Related Federal Benefits
Social Security Administration (SSA)
Estimate of Your Social Security Benefit
You should ask your local Social Security Office for form SSA-7004-PC, Request for Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement, or visit the Social Security Administration(external link) website. If you submit this form, you will get a statement that provides information on your future eligibility for Social Security benefits and estimates of these benefits at specified dates.
Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Service Subject to Offset Due to Social Security Eligibility
Federal employees hired or rehired on or after January 1, 1984, who are covered by both CSRS and Social Security at the same time are called CSRS Offset Employees. CSRS offset employment time is used to compute the annuity we pay you. However, your CSRS annuity will be reduced when you become eligible for Social Security benefits. The offset applies when the basic requirements for Social Security are met, generally at age 62, even if you do not apply for those benefits. If you are not eligible for Social Security benefits at age 62, there is no offset unless you become eligible later.
The offset reduction is the lesser of the:
- Difference between the SSA monthly benefit amounts with and without CSRS offset service, or
- Product of the SSA monthly benefit amount with Federal earnings multiplied by a fraction where the numerator is the employee's total CSRS offset service rounded to the nearest whole number of years and the denominator is 40.
Effect of Entitlement to Social Security Benefits on FERS Disability Benefits
If you are under age 62 and your annuity benefits were computed using either 60% or 40% of your "high-3" average salary, OPM will reduce your monthly annuity by all or a portion of your Social Security benefits. While you are receiving an annuity computed using the 60% computation, OPM must reduce your monthly annuity by 100% of any Social Security disability benefit to which you are entitled. While you are receiving an annuity computed using the 40% computation, your monthly annuity will be reduced by 60% of any Social Security disability benefit to which you are entitled. T his reduction only applies for months in which you are concurrently entitled to both FERS and Social Security benefits.
Effect of Entitlement to Social Security Benefits on FERS Child Survivor Annuity Benefit
Receipt of Social Security benefits affects a child's entitlement to a FERS survivor benefit. The total FERS benefits payable to all children are reduced by the total Social Security benefits payable to all children. The remaining amount is divided by the total number of children payable under FERS. Each eligible child receives this amount. If the Social Security benefits equal or exceed the FERS benefits, no FERS benefits are be paid. In many cases, the payments from Social Security will eliminate the FERS benefit altogether.